The Texas Horse Industry has been in steep decline for over a decade. Foals are down exponentially from a decade ago and many great horse farms have steadily moved breeding efforts out of Texas to enjoy more hospitable and profitable environments in neighboring states. This is largely due to casinos that now augment their purses and breeding funds.
Legislators have repeatedly expressed the desire to come to the industry’s aide, but no single plan has been approved by the Legislature. Meanwhile, the Texas horse industry has suffered.
This session, lawmakers have worked with the industry to bring a handful of bills that, taken together, could breathe new life into our storied and important industry.
In the Senate, Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) has filed three bills that seek to help the horse industry:

SB 1971: Purse Matching Fund

$25 million incentive funded by current taxes on sales of horse feed, supplement and tack

SB 1972: Texas Bred Clean-Up

Creates an escrow fund to house the ATB program money so that it doesn’t count against the Racing Commission’s budget

SB 1973: TRC Funding

Commits the existing Simulcast Wagers Tax to TRC funding rather than the General Fund